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TCAAP re-brands to become Rice Creek Commons

As the redevelopment of the Twin Cities Army Ammunition Plant site in Arden Hills chugs along, yet another milestone has been passed: the site has been renamed.

TCAAP will now be known as Rice Creek Commons, a change, as explained by Ramsey County deputy manager Heather Worthington, undertaken to better market the site.

“The name is a marketing name,” Worthington said. “The St. Paul Port Authority and the folks at Greater MSP asked us to rename the site because of some negative connotations of the old name.”

“They will use the name Rice Creek Commons to market the property on a national and international level,” she added.

The negative connotations of the old name, per Worthington, involve the site’s pollution history and its association with the Superfund Program.

Similar to developments like the New Brighton Exchange, formerly known as the Northeast Quadrant, Worthington said the new name can better describe the site and renaming “is considered a best practice in the development community.”

Rice Creek Commons is not the development’s long term name, as permanent place names--neighborhoods, streets, parks--will be decided upon by Ramsey County and Arden Hills, citizen groups, developers, and others, Worthington said.

The name was chosen because Rice Creek runs through much of the development.

Ramsey County bought the area formerly known as TCAAP in 2012 for $28 million. The site’s heyday was during World War II manufacturing small arms ammunition and employing up to 26,000 people. The site shut down completely in 2005.

Pollution issues related to the site include contaminated groundwater as well as on-site soil contamination due to disposal of industrial waste.